Awkwafina
Aquafina}} | birth_place = Stony Brook, New York, U.S. | occupation = | alma_mater = University at Albany, SUNY | years_active = 2011–present | awards = | module = | label = | associated_acts = Dumbfoundead | website = }} }} Nora Lum'''Despite some sources that give "Nora Lum Ying", Awkwafina said in 2018 it is simply "Nora Lum". ( ; born June 2, 1988), known professionally as '''Awkwafina, is an American actress, comedian, writer, producer, and rapper. She rose to prominence in 2012 when her rap song "My Vag" went viral on YouTube. She then released her debut album, ''Yellow Ranger'' (2014), and appeared on the MTV show ''Girl Code''. She later co-hosted Girl Code Live (2015) and a talk show, Tawk (2015 to 2017), and was featured in the documentary Bad Rap. She has played supporting roles in the comedy films ''Neighbours 2: Sorority Rising'' (2016), Ocean's 8 (2018), Crazy Rich Asians (2018), and Jumanji: The Next Level (2019). Her second album, In Fina We Trust, was released in 2018. She played a leading role in the comedy-drama The Farewell (2019), for which she won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical, becoming the first woman of Asian descent to win a Golden Globe in any lead actress film category. Awkwafina currently stars in Comedy Central's Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens, which she writes and executive produces. Early life Lum was born in Stony Brook, New York, on Long Island,Awkwafina in to a Chinese American father, Wally, and a Korean American mother, Tia, a painter. She grew up in Forest Hills, Queens. Her mother died from pulmonary hypertension when Lum was 4, and she was raised by her father and paternal grandparents, becoming especially close to her paternal grandmother. One of her paternal great-grandfathers was a Chinese immigrant in the 1940s who opened the Cantonese restaurant Lum's in Flushing, Queens, one of the neighborhood's first Chinese restaurants. Lum attended LaGuardia High School, where she played the trumpet and was trained in classical music and jazz. At age 16, she adopted the stage name Awkwafina, "definitely a person I repressed" and an alter ego to her "quiet and more passive" personality during her college years. Lum majored in journalism and women's studies at the University at Albany, State University of New York. From 2006 to 2008, Lum attended Beijing Language and Culture University in China, where she studied Mandarin. Lum states that Charles Bukowski, Anaïs Nin, Joan Didion, Tom Waits, and Chet Baker were early influences. Prior to her career in entertainment, she was an intern at local New York publications Gotham Gazette and the Times Union newspaper in Albany, and was a publicity assistant for the publishing house Rodale Books. She worked at a vegan bodega after getting fired from a publishing house for releasing the "My Vag" music video. Career Music Awkwafina began rapping at age 13. She got her start producing music with GarageBand but eventually learned Logic Pro and Ableton. TigerBelly 103|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doUfEWFiFa4|language=en|access-date=2020-01-09}} In 2012 one of her songs, "My Vag", went viral. She originally wrote the song while in college as a response to Mickey Avalon's "My Dick". Due to the nature of the lyrics, she wore glasses to mask her identity, but was still subsequently fired from her job at a publishing house when her employer took notice. Her solo hip-hop album Yellow Ranger was released on February 11, 2014. The album consists of 11 tracks and includes a number of her previous singles released via YouTube, including the title track "Yellow Ranger", "Queef" and "NYC Bitche$". In 2016, she collaborated with comedian Margaret Cho on "Green Tea", a song that pokes fun at Asian stereotypes. She was part of the lineup at Tenacious D's Festival Supreme on October 25, 2014. Awkwafina was also a disc jockey (DJ) at bars in New York. Fung Bros|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VXOtCiNAJpM|language=en|access-date=2020-01-13}} Awkwafina is profiled in the 2016 documentary Bad Rap, which was an official selection at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival. The film puts the spotlight on her as well as other fellow Asian-American rappers such as Dumbfoundead, Rekstizzy, and Lyricks. She released an EP called In Fina We Trust which consists of 7 tracks on June 8, 2018. Acting in January 2020]] In 2014, Awkwafina was in the third season of Girl Code, appearing in six episodes of the third and fourth seasons. In 2015, she served as co-host for the spin-off titled Girl Code Live on MTV. She was the host of the short-form talk show web series Tawk for the digital production company Astronauts Wanted from 2015 to 2017. The first season premiered on Youtube and was later picked up for exclusive streaming on Verizon's Go90 platform. The show was an Official Honoree at the 2016 Webby Awards and was nominated for a 2016 Streamy Award in the News and Culture category. In 2016, Awkwafina played a supporting role as Christine, a member of Kappa Nu in Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising, and voiced the role Quail in the animated comedy film Storks. In 2018, she starred in the indie comedy Dude, playing Rebecca, one of four best friends in the film. She was part of the principal cast in Ocean's 8, the all-female spinoff to the Ocean's Trilogy. She then co-starred in the film Crazy Rich Asians, directed by John M. Chu. She played Goh Peik Lin, a Singaporean college friend of lead character Rachel Chu (Constance Wu). She has a recurring role in the Hulu original series Future Man in 2017. She hosted the 2018 iHeartRadio MMVAs. She hosted the October 6, 2018, episode of Saturday Night Live, becoming the second East Asian-American female celebrity (after Lucy Liu, whose episode Awkwafina cites as her inspiration to one day be famous enough to host SNL) to host the show. Her celebrity impression for the episode was Sandra Oh (who also became the first East Asian-Canadian female celebrity to host an SNL episode within the same season and the third East Asian-American female celebrity to host overall). In 2019, she starred in the film The Farewell, directed by Lulu Wang. The film received critical acclaim and she played the lead role of Billi, a writer who visits her ill grandmother in China. It earned her a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Comedy or Musical. This made her the first person of Asian descent to win a Golden Globe Award in any lead actress film category, after being only the sixth woman of Asian descent to be nominated in the lead actress in a musical or comedy category. In the same year, she starred as avatar Ming Fleetfoot in the film Jumanji: The Next Level, which turned to be a commercial success. In July 2019, Awkwafina was revealed to have been cast in Marvel Studios' Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, alongside actors Simu Liu and Tony Leung Chiu-wai. The film is slated to be released in February 2021. She will star in the upcoming comedy series Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens; she is also writer and executive producer of that show. As part of the promotional campaign, she recorded new announcements for the 7 train of the New York City Subway, making jokes, such as "This is Hunters Point Avenue, a friendly reminder that seats are for people, not your bag" and "This is 46th Street, which is a lucky number, I just learned that on the internet. Also learned that pigeons and doves are the same thing, WHAT?!", at every stop. These recordings will be used until the beginning of the series on January 22. In the media Awkwafina has expressed support for Time's Up, a movement started by Hollywood celebrities against sexual harassment. She has also advocated for the need for more female directors and against the stereotyping of Asians in media. She was featured in Gap's "Logo Remix" campaign, which featured up-and-coming artists who "are remixing creative culture on their own terms," such as SZA, Sabrina Claudio and Naomi Watanabe. In 2015, she released the guidebook, Awkwafina's NYC. Criticism Awkwafina has an "Asian gangster New Yorker persona" as seen in her Crazy Rich Asians performance and in her rapping on My Vag, which includes a "Blaccent". She has been accused of appropriation of African-American culture. Discography Studio albums Singles Filmography Film Television Accolades Awkwafina was honored as Kore Asian Media's Female Breakout of the Year in December 2017. See also * Chinese in New York City * Korean Americans in New York City References External links * * * }} Category:1988 births Category:21st-century American actresses Category:21st-century American comedians Category:21st-century American rappers Category:21st-century American women musicians Category:Actresses from New York City Category:American actresses of Chinese descent Category:American actresses of Korean descent Category:American film actresses Category:American female rappers Category:American rappers of Asian descent Category:American television actresses Category:American television talk show hosts Category:American women comedians Category:American people of Cantonese descent Category:Best Musical or Comedy Actress Golden Globe (film) winners Category:Beijing Language and Culture University alumni Category:Comedians from New York City Category:East Coast hip hop musicians Category:Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School alumni Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Queens, New York Category:People from Forest Hills, Queens Category:People from Greenpoint, Brooklyn Category:Rappers from New York City Category:Television producers from New York City Category:University at Albany, SUNY alumni Category:Women television producers Category:Women television writers Category:Writers from New York City Category:1989 births